Kolosseum, Arena, Forum Romanum & Palatinhügel mit AudioGuide

Wrong meeting point given. Checked messages, went with most recent meeting point and no one from our tour company was there… to get the correct one we had to call, to which they sent us a video of the correct one, and still wasn’t accurate. We were suppose to start at 09:30, we didn’t get in until near on 10:30 which put our plans for the whole day back. When I contacted via WhatsApp to express the issues we had, the attitude was terrible. Stating “it’s not our fault you don’t check your messages properly, enjoy your day”. At that point they could have taken some accountability, but chose not to. They only started being nice when I mentioned putting this in a review.

firstly my timings were changed from 12 to 3:30 without my consent and when i asked for a refund they told me there is no refund and my ticket has the area part included but when i went there they told me it’s not so what did i pay for??

We had one day in Rome and booked this tour for a Saturday afternoon beginning at 1:30pm. Big mistake. It was so busy with hundreds of people & tour groups which made it quite difficult to follow the audio guide and relate it to the areas being spoken about. Added to the crowds was the extreme heat. We knew it would be like this but still found it overwhelming. And it is to be expected being the peak season! In all honesty it is too much to try and explore all three areas in the one session. What we did manage to see though was truly interesting. It would be better to do this in the winter or shoulder seasons when it is cooler too. I was sorry we didn't get to see everything in the end but if you have the time it would be worth it.

​Diego was an incredible tour guide - so knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and fun to learn from! He also mastered the logistics, perfectly routing our trip to maximize the sights and timing our restroom stops perfectly. He even offered candies when he could see that the kids in our group were getting tired. I highly recommend booking a tour with him!

Diego was amazing and made me super excited about Ancient Rome. Tour was timely and moved at just the right pace.

The interesting part of what Diego Corsetti explained was that a Roman general had been banished to Greece, but had been summoned back to quell the uprising of the Jewish people. Subsequently a five-year war between the Romans, and the Jewish people ended in the battle of Massad whereby the Jewish warrior instead of succumbing to slavery or becoming gladiators in the to be formed Colosseum committed suicide. However, many Jewish people were taken captive as slaves to Rome, and part of the importance of that is that those were the original Christians and eventually to be named Catholics. The question to be asked is what if the Jews had repelled the Romans and the de Diaspora and slavery to Rome had never happened? Would Christianity and eventually Catholicism had ever become the Roman Catholic empire which became a reality after emperor Constantine in approximately 320 A.D. declared Christianity they religion of the Roman empire. Px - Christ Rho! Our guide Diego Corsetti explain this and could’ve explained even more if he would’ve had more time just to sit down with him, but he did a wonderful job of providing the history and background of the Colosseum and what eventually would be replaced with Christianity. A religion that is so impactful throughout the world.

The organization for picking up the booked tickets was unfortunately very poor. The information about the collection was unclear and it was difficult to find the responsible persons on the spot, as there was no recognizable identification. Overall, everything seemed chaotic and poorly coordinated. Additionally, downloading the audio guide app was also difficult for us and many other visitors.

We booked with HEADOUT (who used a local operator Vivicos Travel). Informed a few days before travel that Arena Floor Access wasn't available, too late in the day to arrange elsewhere. Lots of messages and emails back and forth, they eventually agreed to a part refund. Not sure I'd use them again. Apart from that, the visit was excellent. Ticket pick up was simple and you don't actually need Arena Floor Access as you can see most of the details from the main Colosseum. Quick(ish) entry through the security queue (everyone is scanned) and although busy at the entrance, once you get through that there is plenty of space to walk around and see everything from the higher floors. Took about an hour listening to the audio guide for most of it and taking a few photos, which is probably long enough. The Forum Romanum & Palatine Hill side of the visit was much more interesting than I'd imagined. Apart from a 30 min queue to get in (just bad timing from us I think, as there was no queue when we came out 2 hours later) there was loads to see. This side of the tour WOULD probably have been better with some sort of guide as there is lots of history to take in (we tagged along with another guided group for a bit but then they kept stopping for too long - going with a group has ups and downs !). There is lots of walking involved, most of it not on the flat. Overall a really good and full half-day out.

After the first booking with a company we couldn’t find we tried again. Thought we’d be on a small group tour. Showed up at the time we were told- 15 minutes before hand. Nobody from the company there for our group. Finally show up 5 minutes before hand and they say they’d are waiting for more people. 10 minutes after tour was to start they finally agreed to move on with out the people. There were 9 of us. They made us walk another 15 minutes to get the tickets for entry! Then said your o. Your own and have less than 1 hour to make it thru the forum to get to the Coloseum. It was very crowded and hard going through the forum. We had no time to take it in and as my husband and I walk slowly we missed the entry time for the Colloseum. In all aspects a waste of time and money and an absolutely unenjoyable experience. My suggestion book tickets on your own for this area and forget the “guided tours”.

​It’s a total scam. They charge double the price for a 'guide' that turns out to be a terrible phone app that doesn't even provide directions. The instructions were confusing, and they didn't account for the long queues. We ended up with only one hour to see the Forum and the Palatine Hill. They also didn't advertise that the tickets are valid for 24 hours, only informing us once we started. This was a horrible experience that almost ruined our trip to Rome.